The AHCA will suffer its share of criticism and praise as it moves through the legislative process. Secretary Tom Price has stated this is merely round one in the effort of reform. The next two phases will involve broader regulatory patches and targeted legislation. Initially, from a regulatory perspective, the first draft has the potential to eliminate $3.4 billion in costs and create more than 72 million hours of paperwork savings. This could generate tangible benefits to insurers, businesses, and ultimately, patients. Consider a law that imposed $53 billion in costs and 176 million paperwork burden hours. Even a 20 percent to 30 percent cut could create tremendous regulatory cost reductions.

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